Chapter 6 - The Brother With Julian's Face
The man calling himself Adrian Sterling knew the name of Julian's childhood dog.
That frightened Julian more than the resemblance.
He stood outside the secure hospital room with Special Agent Cross and Vivienne, watching through reinforced glass as the stranger sat upright against white pillows.
Without the oxygen mask, there was no mistaking it.
The man was not identical to Julian.
But he was close.
Too close.
The same dark eyes. The same straight nose. The same angular jaw inherited from someone Julian could no longer confidently identify. Adrian appeared slightly older, perhaps because of the gray threaded through his hair and the thin scar running from his right temple toward his ear.
Julian stared through the glass.
“Let me speak to him.”
Cross shook his head.
“He was found unconscious under a false identity in the middle of an active federal investigation.”
“He says he's my mother's son.”
“He says a lot of things.”
“Then let me find out which ones are true.”
Vivienne touched Julian's arm.
“Remember the message.”
He looked at her.
**Do not trust Adrian. He is not the boy we gave away.**
Julian had not forgotten.
The problem was that he no longer knew whether the anonymous sender deserved trust either.
Someone using Evelyn Sterling's disconnected number had predicted danger, exposed secrets, and led him toward evidence.
That did not make them an ally.
It made them informed.
Cross opened the door.
“Ten minutes.”
Julian entered alone.
Adrian smiled.
It was deeply unsettling.
Not because it resembled Richard's smile.
Because it resembled Julian's.
“Hello, Jules.”
Julian stopped.
Almost no one called him that anymore.
One person had.
Eleanor.
When he was a child.
“How do you know that name?”
Adrian tilted his head.
“You used to hate it.”
“Answer the question.”
“You also hated peas, thunderstorms, and sleeping with the closet door open.”
Julian's face remained controlled.
Inside, something twisted.
“Anyone could learn childhood details.”
“Your dog was named Atlas.”
Julian said nothing.
“You buried him beneath the oak tree behind the greenhouse when you were nine. Your father wanted the groundskeeper to dispose of him, but you refused.”
Adrian's smile faded.
“You cried until sunrise.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Who told you?”
“No one.”
“You weren't there.”
Adrian looked toward the observation window.
“You really don't remember me.”
“Should I?”
“Sometimes.”
That answer irritated him.
Julian pulled out the photograph from St. Catherine's.
Two six-year-old boys.
He placed it on the bedside table.
“Is this you?”
Adrian studied it.
His expression changed.
For the first time, Julian saw genuine emotion.
Sadness.
“No.”
Julian had expected denial.
He had not expected it so quickly.
“Then who is it?”
“My brother.”
Julian stared at him.
“Your brother?”
Adrian looked up.
“Our brother.”
Silence filled the room.
“You expect me to believe there were three boys?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
Adrian touched the photograph.
“The boy beside you was named Nathan.”
Julian felt the name settle into him.
Nathan.
Not Boy B.
Not a code.
A person.
“What happened to him?”
“I don't know.”
“You just called him your brother.”
“Because that's what Gabriel told me.”
“Gabriel Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Where is Gabriel?”
Adrian gave a tired smile.
“You've already spoken to him.”
“At the lake house.”
“No.”
Julian frowned.
“He called me.”
“Someone called you.”
“I recognized his voice.”
“You recognized a voice you had never consciously heard before?”
Julian paused.
Adrian leaned forward.
“Think about that.”
Julian did.
The voice had felt familiar.
At the time, he assumed it was because Gabriel had somehow remained buried in childhood memory.
But there was another possibility.
Someone had deliberately imitated a voice Julian expected to hear.
“Who called me?”
“I don't know.”
“Convenient.”
“Welcome to the family.”
Julian ignored that.
“Who are you?”
Adrian's expression became serious.
“I was born Adrian Vale.”
“Where?”
“According to the records I was given, Albany.”
“Mother?”
“Listed as Margaret Vale.”
Julian's thoughts immediately returned to Evelyn's passport.
**Margaret Vale.**
“You're saying Evelyn was your mother?”
“No. I'm saying that's what my birth certificate says.”
“Father?”
“Gabriel Vale.”
Julian stared at him.
“So why call yourself Sterling?”
“Because Evelyn told me I was one.”
That changed the room.
“You met her.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Many times.”
“Before she died?”
Adrian's eyes remained on Julian.
“After.”
Julian's heartbeat slowed.
“How long after?”
“Years.”
Outside the glass, Cross shifted position.
Vivienne covered her mouth.
Julian leaned toward Adrian.
“Evelyn Sterling is alive?”
Adrian did not answer immediately.
“She was alive five years after the family buried her.”
“Where?”
“Different places.”
“Why?”
“Because people were hunting her.”
“Richard?”
“Among others.”
“Gabriel?”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Gabriel was protecting her.”
“Then where is she now?”
“I don't know.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Six years ago.”
“What happened?”
“She disappeared.”
Julian laughed once.
“That seems to be a family tradition.”
Adrian did not smile.
“She left me a message.”
“What did it say?”
“That if she failed to return, I should never contact Eleanor.”
Julian's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn believed Eleanor had betrayed us.”
---
Cross ended the interview after twelve minutes.
Julian ignored his complaint about the extra two.
Outside the room, Vivienne immediately approached.
“Do you believe him?”
“No.”
It was true.
It was also incomplete.
Julian didn't trust Adrian.
But parts of Adrian's story fit too neatly into gaps that had existed for years.
Cross handed Julian a tablet.
“We ran his fingerprints.”
“And?”
“No Adrian Sterling. No Adrian Vale.”
“So he's lying.”
“Not necessarily. We did get one partial match.”
Julian looked up.
“To whom?”
Cross turned the screen.
The database record belonged to a deceased man.
**THOMAS EDWARD HART.**
Vivienne stared at the name of her father.
“What?”
Cross continued carefully.
“It's not a direct match. The system flagged a possible first-degree biological relationship.”
Vivienne's face drained of color.
“No.”
Julian looked from the tablet to Adrian through the glass.
“Your father had another child?”
“I don't know.”
“My father would have told me.”
Julian gave her a look.
“Apparently no one in our families tells anyone anything.”
Vivienne barely heard him.
“If Adrian is related to my father…”
Cross finished the thought.
“He could be Thomas Hart's son.”
“My brother?”
“Possibly.”
Vivienne stumbled backward.
Julian caught her.
She immediately pulled away.
Not angrily.
Automatically.
Their relationship had become a place neither knew how to stand.
Cross's phone rang.
He stepped away.
Vivienne looked through the glass.
Adrian was watching her.
Not Julian.
Her.
And there was something strange in his expression.
Recognition.
Vivienne whispered, “He knows me.”
“You met him before?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
She looked at Julian sharply.
“Yes.”
Then Adrian lifted his hand.
He pressed two fingers against the inside of his wrist.
Vivienne froze.
“What?”
She didn't answer.
“Vivienne.”
“My father used to do that.”
“Do what?”
“That gesture.”
Adrian repeated it.
Two fingers against the wrist.
Then pointed at her.
Vivienne began breathing faster.
“When I was little, my father told me that if I was ever somewhere I couldn't speak safely, that gesture meant: **Don't trust the person beside you.**”
Julian looked at Adrian.
Then at himself reflected in the glass.
“He's warning you about me.”
“No.”
Vivienne's eyes shifted toward Cross.
“He's warning me about him.”
---
Cross returned moments later.
“We have a problem.”
Julian studied him differently now.
“What?”
“Your mother was found.”
Everything else disappeared.
“Where?”
“An abandoned medical clinic outside Briarwood.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Julian exhaled.
“Condition?”
“Sedated. No major injuries.”
“I'm going.”
“So are we.”
Vivienne grabbed Julian's sleeve as Cross walked away.
“Don't tell him what Adrian signaled.”
Julian looked at her.
“You think Cross is involved?”
“I think my father taught me that signal for a reason.”
“Your father died twelve years ago.”
“And apparently dead people in this story have very flexible schedules.”
Julian almost smiled.
Almost.
---
Eleanor regained consciousness shortly after they arrived at Briarwood Medical Center.
Julian entered first.
She looked smaller in the hospital bed.
Vulnerable.
For a moment, he remembered only his mother.
Not the lies.
Not Gabriel.
Not the two infants.
Not Evelyn.
Just Eleanor.
Then she opened her eyes.
“Julian.”
He sat beside her.
“Who took you?”
“I don't know.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
“Why were you at the clinic?”
“I woke up there.”
Julian watched her carefully.
“Mother, who is Nathan?”
Her eyes widened.
That was enough.
“You know the name.”
“Where did you hear it?”
“Adrian.”
Eleanor's face transformed.
“Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“He's alive?”
Julian leaned closer.
“You know him.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“I thought…”
“What?”
“I thought Richard killed him.”
Julian felt another piece shift.
“Who is Adrian?”
Eleanor looked toward the door.
“Close it.”
He did.
“Now tell me.”
She struggled upright.
“Adrian was Thomas Hart's son.”
That confirmed Cross's test.
“Vivienne's brother.”
“Yes.”
“Why doesn't she know?”
“Because Thomas didn't know.”
Julian frowned.
“Explain.”
“Adrian's mother was someone Thomas knew before he married Vivienne's mother. She disappeared while pregnant.”
“And Evelyn found the child?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because of Gabriel.”
Julian waited.
Eleanor's eyes filled with old terror.
“Gabriel believed Adrian could be used to protect Nathan.”
“Protect him how?”
“By confusing anyone searching for him.”
Julian's anger returned.
“They used a child as a decoy?”
“They were desperate.”
“Who was hunting Nathan?”
Eleanor whispered, “Richard.”
“Why?”
“Because Nathan was the heir.”
Julian went still.
“I thought I was.”
“No.”
“Then Nathan inherited Evelyn's shares?”
“Not exactly.”
Eleanor gripped the blanket.
“He inherited something far more dangerous.”
“The second ledger.”
“No.”
She looked directly at Julian.
“The key to it.”
A knock interrupted them.
Cross entered.
“Sorry. We need to move Mrs. Sterling.”
“Why?”
“We've had a security breach.”
Julian looked at Eleanor.
Then Cross.
“What kind?”
“Someone accessed the hospital network and pulled her room number.”
Vivienne appeared behind him.
Her face was pale.
“Julian.”
He turned.
She held her phone.
“You need to see this.”
A livestream was playing.
The camera showed a dark room.
A man sat tied to a chair.
His face was hidden beneath a black hood.
A digital countdown occupied the corner.
**00:14:32**
Fourteen minutes.
Julian felt sick.
Text appeared beneath the video.
**ONE BROTHER HAS LIED.**
Then:
**ONE BROTHER WILL DIE.**
The hood was ripped from the captive's head.
Julian stared at the screen.
The man had his face.
Not Adrian's older, scarred variation.
His face.
Almost exactly.
Same age.
Same eyes.
Same jaw.
The boy from the photograph had grown up.
Eleanor made a sound behind Julian.
“No…”
Julian turned.
His mother was staring at the screen as if she had seen a ghost.
“Nathan?”
She began crying.
“My baby.”
Julian's blood went cold.
Another message appeared beneath the livestream.
**Julian Sterling has fourteen minutes to choose.**
Two buttons appeared.
**SAVE ADRIAN**
**SAVE NATHAN**
Julian stared at them.
Then a third line appeared.
**If he refuses to choose, Eleanor Sterling dies with both of them.**
The countdown reached thirteen minutes.
And behind Julian, the hospital heart monitor suddenly began screaming.